Mommy Goes Green

Plastic baggies seem to be a kitchen essential but there’s a downside – they are flimsy, not easily reusable and PLASTIC!   Genius moms have overcome this by designing reusable, food safe bags to replace your Ziploc addiction.  They are great for snack or lunch time holding chips, apples, sandwiches and more.

3GreenMoms – These reusable, colorful cloth pouches are made in the USA from a high quality, moisture-proof German fabric used worldwide in the food industry. These bags are food safe, extremely durable, grease-proof and can even be thrown in the dishwasher.  Many patterns to choose from!  2 for $12.

Rosy und Posy – My favorite finds are always on Etsy and this mother daughter duo has plastic free lunch bags, made with cotton and lined with 100% unbleached cotton muslin.  My favorite thing about Etsy is the customization possibilities so find your favorite fabric and customize an order.  $4 – $6 per bag.

Kids Konserve – Kids Konserve is known for a host of reusable products, particularly for lunches.  Their reusable baggies are made with recycled, FDA approved, non-toxic, non-leaching, recyclable PE plastic. They do not contain Bisphenol-A (BPA) and ire Phthalate free. 13″ round. 5 for $25.

DIY – This blogger has written a tutorial to create your own reusable baggies from fabric scraps – you can download to print it.

FREE STUFF: 2 lucky winners will get a set of regular size and snack size bags from 3GreenMoms! To enter, visit 3 Green Moms and tell us what your favorite print is. Leave your comment by Sunday, June 21, 2009 at 11:59pm PST. Contest open to all U.S. and Canadian residents, ages 18+. We will choose 2 winners, at random, and notify them by email. Privacy Policy.

Anyone tired of selling tubs of cookie dough or magazine subscriptions?  Take the road less traveled and pick a green fundraising project this year.  It’s also a great opportunity to teach students about their impact on the environment.

The Funding Factory rewards educational and non profit organizations for collecting laser or inkjet print cartridges and cell phones.  Organizations can then redeem fundraising earnings by choosing items in a Rewards Catalog or by requesting a check.  They provide free promotional materials such as flyers, posters, online blog, prepaid shipping labels and corresponding curriculum.

TerraCycle Brigades take product wrappers and upcycles them into tote bags, pencil cases, notebooks and more.  They provide free shipping boxes for your collections and pay .02 to .05 per piece. They currently accept the following packaging:

• Capri Sun and Honest Kids drink pouches
• Chips AHoy and Oreo cookie wrappers
• Frito Lay chip bags
• Kashi product packaging
• Stonyfield Farms yogurt containers
• Balance Bar and Clif Bar snack bar wrappers
• Bear Naked bags
• Ritz and Wheat Thins Toasted Chips bags

Kids Konserve makes packing waste free lunches easy by providing reusable food and drink containers and cloth napkins.  Their Waste Free Lunch Challenge and Custom Bottle Drive helps raise money and reduce trash on campus by donating 25% of their product sales back to the school. The Custom Bottle Drive allows you to have your school or team logo printed on their food grade stainless steel bottles and all proceeds go to the school! Their website lists 10 great activities to get the whole school involved and excited about the program including ‘Trash Free Tuesdays’, Green Kid of the Month, and a poster or essay contest.

The Green School Project pays schools and non profit organizations to recycle print cartridges, cell phones and PDA devices.   They even provide prepaid shipping supplies and all marketing materials, free of charges. They frequently run contests and bonuses – the Spring bonus is an added 20% bonus if 50 items are sent in by the deadline or 30% bonus if 200 items are donated.  50 items seems doable – heck I probably have 3 or 4 sitting in my office to donate.

If you just love hitting up your co-workers with a catalog of goods, then take the traditional route of fundraising with a green twist.  Greenraising has both a catalog and online shopping mall of goods – all of which your school receives a percentage of – 25% for online sales and 40% for catalog sales.  Products include recycled gift wrap, chocolate bars, coffee, tea, reusable water bottles, lunch bags and totes, cleaning supplies, soaps and lotions and a lot more.

Contact the principal, fundraising or sustainability committee at your school and offer to help out with one of these great, eco-friendly fundraisers.  It may just fund your child’s next classroom trip!

Looking for a great Mother’s Day gift?  Make sure to check out the MGG Mother’s Day Green Goodies Guide later this week!